Means for packing cigarettes and like articles



Dec. 9, 1930. w. E. M OLINS 1,784,701

MEANS FOR PACKING CIGARETTES AND LIKE ARTICLES Filed May 2, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet l .A M 6. W 2.

Dec. 9, 1930. w. E. MOL.INS 1,784,701

MEANS FOR PACKING CIGARETTES AND LIKE ARTICLES I Filed May 2, 192'? 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 9, 1930'. w. E. MOLINS MENS FOR PACKING CIGARETTES AND LIKE ARTICLES Filed May 2, 1927 s Sheets-Sheet 5 lnz/enioi Dec. 9, 1930. w. E. MOLINS 1,784,701

MEANS FOR PACKING CIGARETTE S AND LIKE ARTICLES Filed May 2, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Dec. 9, 193( w. E. MOLINS l384,701

MEANS FOR PACKING CIGARETTES AND LIKE ARTICLES Filed May 2 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Dec. 9, 1930 lomraoqsrare s WALTER EVERETT MOLINS, OF DEPTFORIJ, LONDON, ENGLAND MEANS FOR PACKING cieannr'rns AND- LIKE ARTICLES Application filed. May 2, 1927, Serial No. 188,285, and in Great EritaiiiMay 6, 1926.

. Figs. 11 and 12 illustrate modified con- The present inventionconsists of means for producing automatically a package having a flexible outer covering reinforced by an internal strip of rigid material.

The p-resentinvention consists of apackage making machine which comprises in combination means (for example an endless conveyor) operable automatically to move a block shaped article or batch'of articles along the to bed of the machine, means forfeeding and locating automatically a strip of rigid material (for examplecardboard) transversely to the path of said article or batch of articles, means operable to fold thesaid strip around'three sides of said article'or batch of articles,means for feeding and locating automatically a strip of wrapping material transversely to the path of said article or batch of, articleswith'the longer dimension thereof disposed at rightanglesto the direction of the longer dimension of said reinforcing strip and means for automatically forming said wrapping material into an open ended U shaped block ended container with the reinforcing'strip disposed aroundthree inner side walls of the same. .7 1.

\ The invention is more particularly described with reference to. the accompanying drawings, in which V Figs. 1, 2 and 3 illustrate in si'deelevation sections of a complete machine constructed according to the present invention.

Fig.- 1a is a fragmentary diagrammatic view of a portion of the mechanism for completing the folding operation.

Fig. 2a is a partial section in perspective showing the details of the strip folding mechanism.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of Fig. 2..

Fig. 6 is a plan view of Fig. 3.

Figs. 7 and 8 are detailed views of the folding mechanism employed upon one embodi ment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 illustrates a perspective view of a complete package formed by a machine constructed according to the present invention.

Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a reinforcing' strip located within the completed package illustrated inFig. 9. i i 1 veyorchains 5 carried on driving sprocket wheels 6 and: idlers 7 Thepusher pieces 8 are adapted to'move beneath a hopper mechanism 30 so as to remove one or more rows of cigarettes from the. vanes of the same and carry the same along the bed of the machine. I

The hopper mechanism is preferably constructed according to British Patents Nos. 216,326, 238,355, 253,300, and, 263,521 and U. S. Patent 1,668,693, and the row or rows of cigarettes removed therefrom are moved between guide members 9' into engagement with a strip of rigid material, for example, cardboard fed downwardly from a reel 10 between feeding rollers 11 and 12 to a rotary cutting mechanism 18 which is arranged to shear a strip of material from the'web equal in width to the depth ofthe row or rows of cigarettes removed from the hopper mechanism. The Web of cardboard is such that its width corresponds to the longer dimension of the strip of material to be wrapped around the cigarettes. The mechanism for severing a strip of material from the web is preferably constructed according to British Patent No. 190,202 and U. S. Patent 1,700,906.

The feeding rollers 11 and 12 are preferably arranged to score the web of cardboard at points along the width of the same so as to facilitate the folding of thecardboard strip around the batch of cigarettes. The strip of cardboard severed from the web rests between guides 27 in a vertical position upon the bed of the machine. and is adapted to extend on either side of the path of the cigarettes. The cigarettes moved by the conveyor cigarettes. prises a composite web of two 'mater1als,'theadhesive.

the machine, see Figs. 2 and 5. The side,

members of thecardboard strip are bent at right angles about the cigarettes by cominginto contact with the edges of the guides 9a and 9Z2 as the bunchof cigarettes forces the strip into the tunnel. Thestrip is then in the form of a U and extends across the leading face of the cigarettes and along either side thereof in such amanner t'hat'the free ends of the strip extend beyond the ends of the cigarettes which are in engagement with the pusher piece. The'cigarettes together with the strip of rigid material are conveyed by the pusher piece 3 alongthe bed of the machineinto engagement with a strip of wrapping material which is fed downwardly through the bed of the machine so as to lie across the path of the oncoming batch of If' the wrapping material comis preferably narrower than the outer material so as to enable'the sides of the outer wrapper to be secured to one another by The wrapping material is drawn froma reel l lby feeding rollers 15 and 16 and a'strip of mater-ialis severed, by the cutting mechanism 17, from the web substantially as a batch of cigarettes meets the same.

The cutting mechanism 17 is preferably constructed according to the British patents hereinbeforereferred to and the end of the inner wrapper is perforated so as-to allow the final broad end flap of the outer wrapper to be secured to the other broad end flap through the said perforation; The strip of wrapping material together with the batch of cigarettes are thereafter moved through folding mechanism which-folds the strip of wrap ping material into a U formation about the cigarettes so that the wrapping material is folded about the leading end of the batch of cigarettes and along the upper and lower broad face of the same. In order to accomfolders for forming the side tucks of the wrapper are of the standard construction which is common in machines ofthis kind for producing folds of the character indicated at Fig. 11. The folding mechanism comprises a pair of side folders'31 (Figs. 2

and '5) which fold the narrow" end tuck 32 (Fig. 11). The packet then passes between folders 33 which form the 5 lower Flong tuck 34 (Fig. 1 1-) and finally .betweeniolders :35

illustrated in Fig. 1'1.

which fold down the long side tuck 36 (Fig. 11). This method of folding, has certain drawbacks, because if the cardboard strip is pulled up from the completed packet, it cannot be pushed down again, as it will foul the narrow tucks 32 which are on the inside of the packet and the material is preferably folded in the sequence illustrated in Figs. 13, 1 1 and 15 by the mechanism shown in Figs. 7 and 8. j p I r This sequence of operations enables the strip of reinforcing, material to be moved relatively to the outer container without the danger of the strip fouling any protruding port-ion of the folded sides as is the case when theexten'sions of the bottom of the U are firstfolded along the sides of thecigarettes as The said tucking'inechanism for forming the container shownin'Figs. 13, 14 and 15 comprises a pair of cam. operated fingers 18. These fingers 18 may be driven in any'conventionalmanner but are preferably operated by means of an arm .62Qcarrying the roller-63,

.this arm being rigid with thefingers 18. A

cam 65, driven in any conventional manner fromthemain drive of the machine, engages the roller 63 which is held in contact with the cam by the spring 67. One of thefingers 18 is locatedon each side of the'machine and timed insuch-a manner that when the/leading' end ofeach batch'of cigarettes approaches thesaidfingers, the fingers are automatically moved upwardly so asto foldaeachside ex'-- tension'19 of the lowerlimb of the U shaped wrapping material upwardly against the cor"- responding narrow side ofthe batch ofcigarettes, at the same time maintaining theextensions 20 of the base of the U in a direction at right-angles to the said narrow sides of the Y batch of cigarettes. :See Fig.13 'The batch of cigarettes is thereafter moved into engagement with foldersx20a which fold 'the side extensions 20 of the bottomof the U of wrapping material along'the narrow sides :of'the batch of cigarettes see Fig. 14, whereupon the cigarettes are'moved through a further set of folders see-'Figs. '12and;15whiclrmove the side extensions 21 of the upper limb of the U downwardly so as to form the wrapping material into-a U- shap'edblock ended container open at one end. J 'See Figs. 12 and '15. It will be appreciated that instead ofi first folding each side extension of the lower-{limb of the U upwardlyfthesideextensions ofcthe upper limb of the-U may be first folded downwardly without in" any*-way-departing-from t'he'spirit of the presentinventiomand suoh a sequence of folding operations areto-be considered "as the equivalent of the sequence shownin Figs. 13, 14 and 15.

Suitable gumming'mechanismQQ is located in advance1of the first tucking mechanism so as to ensure that'the'side folds are properly secured together. The gummingmechanism '22tanpiisesa pair of; gum wheels to ramtl roiig'lislotsinithesides of the gum baths in the manner-deserib'ed in my United States Patent No'.11,651,146? The gum Wheels are driven' by a horizontal "shaft 42fvvhichis shown in 'Fig. -2,but omitted" from'Fig 5, the "gumheelsbein'g connected to said shaft by means of be'velsfandthe shaft 42 is driven byfa gear 43connectedby a "sprocket 44'to the-main driveof the machine. Thegum ivheels project through-slots in the folders 83 vvhi'chforinthe lower longtu'ck of the packet, as"previouslydescribed. The open ended package so formed'is thereafter movedinto engagement With mechanism adapted to move tliepackage out of engagement With the conveyor so as t'ofp'ermitif, necessary, side tucks and' end'folds tobe formed at the open end of the container. "Sa-i'd mechanism prefera bly comprises the device set forth in'British PatentfNo. 214,7 92, and consists ofa pair of rotating-wheels 45; Figs. 1 and 4, which, are drive rflfromfacross "shaft 46 by gears 47'. The shaft46 is drivenbya sprocket48from the maindrive ofthe machine. 'Each Wheel 45 is furnished with ahingedtucking finger 2ti vvhich'isadapted'gto form the narrow side tricks on the open endof the package inthe manner 1 described in the above mentioned specification, The fifigei's'Qt of theabove devicewhichform the side tucks ofthe pack age arearranged to bend'thelextensionsof reinforcing strip across the open end of the container sojas toensure that thecontainer-is-provided with a reinforcingstrip Which-completely envelope the narrow sides ofthe 'c'ontents of thejpackagef' A After thesidetucks have been-formed at the end ofthe package, the same is moved on to an upwardly movable-platform 25".. The

. plat-form 25' isprovided with an upstanding "lip 25a,'l?ig.l 1. which folds-up the lower broad endfflapfof'the-packet asth-e platform com-- mences to rise and ca'rry, the package apiece themagaZineQG. Thepackageis moved into avertical stacker .26 which folds the upper broad end, flap downwardly which is secured to theother broad' end flap or to thesideof the package in any desired mannein The packages in the verticalstacker are "preferably removed therefrom either in "line'or.v in batches-of apredetermined number" by the mechanism described in British PatentsNos. 3,136 of 1926, 14,535 of'1926, 26,309 of 1926 and No. 934 of 1927.

A main shaft A is carried on the back of the machine in bearings B and is driven by a pulley C and is also fitted With a hand Wheel D. A bevel Wheel E drives the main conveyor through another bevel F. A spiral Wheel G mounted on the shaft drives a vertical spindle H through another spiral I and a further spiral Wheel on this vertical shaft drives another spiral J, which is fixed on the three gear Wheels 0, P; Q:

It will be appreciated that instead of movend'of the package.

Spindle of i-0118311: TheRrOHer-iQ is driven 'from'roller11.bythe friction of the paper. I "Another spiral wheel'K'on the main shaft also drives the vertical spindle M in a similar mannerand transmits th emotion to a shaft N Whichdrives the Wrapper feeding rolleriljj v, The gumming gear -i's drivenby a chain fromthe back'of' the Wrapper-feed.

The'cutter 13 is driven from roller 11 by ing abatch'of cigarettes into engagement with a reinforcing strip and thereafter per- ;mit-a U shaped blockended container to be folded about the said batch of cigarettes, the

packagemaybe formed about a block shaped former; and'the-openende'd package may be removed from} the saidfor'mer' in any desired manner. Such a package may besubsequently filled automaticallyor by hand; I

'If' necessary, the rollers which feed the st'ripjof Wrapping material may be provided with a perforating device which Will perforate a right angled p ort'ion'upon the material, which, when the Wrapping'strip is fold edabout thefcontents, will be located in the mannerindicated at 23 in'Fig, 9. This perfora'ted portionenables the package to-be easily opened-Without the necessity of un doing the-sid tucksandiend folds at the 1 Th s it ill be seen thatac'cordingto the I present inventionfthere is provided a package'm'akingmachine wherein a 'U shaped block ended package formed from flexible material-isprovid'ed with an inner reinforc- 'ing strip which retains" the shape of the package and" protects'the "contents of the 'paokage 'from' being crushed; p v will be observed 7 that the machine disclosed'j's designed'toywrap a single" article as well as batch of cigarettes. 1 Forinstance, in some machines of this type it is customary to use a blockishap'ed form about which 'the Wrapper-is placed,the form being later Withdr'a'vv'nfor the insertionof cigarettes. Obvi- 'ously the machine might also be used'to Wrap some other, article. In; defining the Wrapped member'- in the claims the" term article-is used, and thisite rm isto be construed as including a single member or a plurality of members; such as a' bat'ch of cigarettes.

I What 1: claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis'r- LIn a package making machine, the combination Withthe machine bed,of means operable to" move anarticle' along the bed, means'for-feedingandlocating a strip of rigid "material transversely to the'path of said "article, means operable to fold the strip 'aro'iindthree' sides of the article, means for feeding and locating, a strip of Wrapping n'iateri-al transversely to'the path of said arti'c'lewith the longer-dimension thereof dis posed at right angles to the longer 'dimen sion of said rein'f'orceing strip, andmeans for threeinner side-walls of the same.

-; h rip 2. In a package making machine, thecombination-with the machine bed',of means 0perable to move an article along the load, means for severinga strip of 'rigid material from a web, the width of which corresponds to the longerdimension ofthe strip, means for locating the strip transversely of the path of the article, means operable to fold around three sides of the article, means r feeding and locating astrip-of wrapping material transversely to the path of said article with thelonger dimension thereof disposedjat righttangles to thelonger dimension of said reinforcing strip, and means for forming-said wrapping material into an open "endedqUshaped block ended container with the; reinforcing strip disposed around three inner-side walls ofthe same.

3 In a package making machine, the combinationwith-the machine bed, of means operable to move an-article along the bed, means for severinga strip of rigidgmaterial from a web,-the width of which porresponds to the longer. dimension of the strip, said means comprising arotary cutting blade and a cooperating fixed cutting hlade, means for locating the strip transversely'of the path of the article, means operableto foldthe strip around three sides of the article, means for feeding and locating a strip: of;.wrapping material transversely to the path of saidartido with the longer I dimension thereof disposed a't rightangles to the longer dimension of said reinforcing strip, and means for formingsaid wrapping material into an open ended Ushapedblock endedcontain'er with the reinforcing strip disposed around three inner side-walls ofthe'same. v:- r V 4. In a package making machine, the combination with the machine bed, of means operable to move an article along the bed, means for feeding and locating a stripv of rigid material transversely to the path of said article, means operable to fold the strip around three sides ofthe article, saidv strip being of such length as to extend beyond the article at one side thereof, means for'feedingand locating a strip of wrapping material transversely to the path of said article with the longerv dimension thereof disposed at right angles to the Ylonger dimension of said reinforcing strip, and means for forming said wrapping material into an open ended U shaped block ended container with the reinforcing strip disposed around three inner side walls of the,

same. V Y 1 r v 6. In a package making machine, thecombination" withthe machine bed of means 0perable tomove an article along the bed, means for feeding and locating a strip of wrapping material transversel to thejpath of said article, means for :fo ding the material in a U shape about the end, top and bottom of said article, and means forthereafter folding one of the sideextensions of the U shaped material against the side of the article,prior to the folding ofthe base of the U. I a 1 7. In apackage making machine, the com bination with the machine bedv of'meansoperable to move an article alongthe bed, means i for feeding and locating astrip of wrapping material transversely to the path of said article, means for'folding the materialin a -U shape about the end, top and bottom of said article, and means for thereafter folding one of therside extensions'of the U shaped material against theside ofthe article prior to the folding of the base of the U, saidlast named. means comprising a finger movable tren r l efthe P 1? i ib i '8. Ina package making machindlthe combination with the machine bedof means operable to move an article along the bed, means for feeding and locatinga strip of wrapping material transversely to the path of said article, means for folding the material in,a U shape about the end, top and bottom of said article, and means for folding one of the side extensions of the Ushapedmaterial against the side of the article, and. means for vthereafter 7 folding the material comprising .the base of the U along the side of the article. In testimony whereof Ihereunto affix my signature.

WALTER EVERETTMOLINS.

the longer dimension of said reinforcing strip, and means forforming said wrapping material into an open ended U shaped block ended container with the reinforcing strip disposed around three inner side walls of the same, and means forffoldingthestrip across the end of the article.- k I 5. In a package making machine, the .combination .WlthrthQ machine bed, of means op- 

